Roller conveyor for excavating wheel



March 18, 1958 F. F. KOLBE 2,826,839

' ROLLER CONVEYOR FOR EXCAVATING WHEEL Filed Nov. 6, 1953 s Sheets-Sheet1 INZENTOR. jFarzflI/[oda BY W I March 18, 1958 F. F. KOLBE ROLLERCONVEYOR FOR EXCAVATING WHEEL 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 6, 1953 March18, 1958 F. F. KOLBE ROLLER CONVEYOR FOR EXCAVATING WHEEL 3 Sheets-Sheet3 Filed Nov. 6, 1953 INVENTOR. flaizffiblbe BY fi/ HM I I 5% q: M

United States Patent ROLLER CONVEYOR FOR EXCAVATING WHEEL Frank F.Kolbe, Winnetka, Ill., assignor to The United Electric Coal Companies,Chicago, Hit, a corporation of Delaware Application November 6, 1953,Serial No. 390,454

4 Claims. (Cl. 37-190) The present invention relates generally toexcavating apparatus of the bucket wheel type and particularly to animproved roller conveyor for transferring excavated material from theinterior of the wheel to a belt type conveyor or the like.

In excavating apparatus of the type referred to, a large rotatablymounted wheel is provided with a plurality of buckets attached to itsperiphery that cut into and scoop up a quantity of earth when the Wheelis rotated. The buckets carry the earth upward to a point where theearth gravitates therefrom into the interior of the wheel. Some meansmust be provided to receive the earth and convey it from the interior ofthe wheel to a belt type conveyor or the like which is usually disposedadjacent the wheel and parallel thereto.

In the past it has been the practice to provide an inclined slope sheet,extending from the interior of the wheel toward the belt conveyor, whichreceived the earth and fed it either directly onto the conveyor, or fedit to a point adjacent to the conveyor whereupon a suitable mechanism ormanual labor were utilized to place the earth on the conveyor. However,the use of a slope sheet has several disadvantages (all of which myinvention overcomes), among which are the following;

(1) In order that dirt may slide off of the slope sheet, the slope sheetmust be placed at a substantial angle. For

example, in an existing wheel of 20 foot diameter and with buckets 32inches wide,the inclined slope sheet has its top inside edge 4 feet 9inches above the center of the axle and'that reduces the spaceinteriorly of the Wheel into which material may be discharged. When thematerial is packed into the bucket by the excavating action, it usuallywill not discharge'until the tail of the bucket has passed the topinside edge of the sheet which is 4 feet 9 inches above the axle; hasnot only a reduced space into which to discharge but also short dumpingrange until the far side of the slope sheet is reached. Consequently,either the Wheel must be run more slowly to give suflicient time forallthe material to get out or the wheel must make a light out so that thematerial is not too closely packed bucket.

(2') Owing to the fact that the slope sheet is at a coninto thesiderable angle, rocks or frost lumps falling, onto it are but littleretarded and are likely to hitthe conveyor belt as substantial velocitywithresulting damage to the belt. Also, the rocks or lumps may bounceoif the belt and strike other portions of the excavatingmechanism. Sincetheirocksand lumps will generally discharge only as the bucket reachesits highest position the impact slope sheet and belt will beconsiderable.

(3) For a 'given size of wheel one'can have buckets of on the The buckettherefore only a certain width; which is relatively narrow, since I theslope sheet must go from the outside of the bucket across the interiorofthe wheel to the other side of the wheel and must be at a considerableangle, Hence, the

height that the slope sheet can go controls the; distance 2,326,839Patented Mar. 18, 1958 tive to the horizontal, the material, of course,will not slide off.

(4) Also, on a slope sheet sticky material builds up and this requiressome form of cleaning mechanism which is subject to wear and issomething of a main tenance item.

Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to provide anexcavating wheel having an earth conveying means which eliminates thenecessity for having an in ternally disposed slope sheet, and whichfeeds the excavated earth out of the wheel to some means for removingsame, all with greater efficiency than prior conveyors have provided andwithout the above disadvantages.

It is a more particular object of this invention to provide anexcavating wheel having roller conveyor means for receiving the earthwhich gravitates toward the interior of the wheel from the buckets, andwhich efficiently conveys the earth exteriorly of the wheel toward andonto a belt type conveyor or the like disposed adjacent said wheel.

In accomplishing the foregoing objects by my invention, the earth isbrought out from the inside of the Wheel by a series of rollers whichare normally arranged horizontally, although they canbe arranged at aslight downward incline toward some external conveying means such as anendless belt or the like. The highest point of such rollers in a 20 footwheel, for example, may be only 30 inches or less above the center ofthe axle. This gives a materially longer arcuate distance through whichthe buckets may dump. Also, since the rollers are lower in the wheelthan a slope sheet would be, there is more space into which the materialcan dump. a

For example, in an existing 20 foot-wheel, the buckets are approximately4 feet deep. The tails are there fore set on a 12 foot circle. If therollers are setapproximately 2 /2 feet above the center of the axle, thetails are not clear until they have risen 2 /2 feet, but are then freefor approximately the next 3 /2 to 4 feet vertically and tail of thebucket is completely free for only item 3 inches going up and another 1foot 3Iinches going down, or a total of 2 feet 6 inches. Measured indegrees, in the use of the roller conveyor of my invention, the tailsare free for approximately while in using'the slope sheet the tails arefree only 74. it is possible, therefore, to speed up the action of thewheel and increase its excavating capacity; V

Furthermore, the rollers being horizontal or at only a slight angle, arock falling from the highest position of the bucket strikes aflat bedof rollers which absorbs the impact and then is transported by therollers to a conveyor belt, or the like, instead of striking the beltwith considerable impact, as has been the case with a slope sheet.

Since the rollers in my invention are set low, the material can come outof the buckets before the buckets have raised very much above the centerof the'axle and t is held back by the margin of the'slope sheet andthen'it" all tends to come out at once, producing an impact and unevenloading.

A further advantage of my invention is that the material in the bucketof a wheel with a bed of horizontal rollers; falls'in a vertical planeparallel with the wheel. The

entire width of the bucket is uncovered at once. A slope sheet, on theother hand, by the very fact that it is sloping, does not uncover thewhole width of the bucket at once. A part of the bucket is uncovered andthen another part, and so on, as thebuckets rise. The material diIectlyback' of the central opening of the Wheel (that is, the material spacedthe farthest laterally from the slope sheet) tends to fall out in avertical plane parallel to the wheel, but the material next to this andstill covered by the slope sheet tries to assume an angle of repose,which is about 1 in a wide bucket, the material discharges more readily.

Consequently, what might not come out at all in a narrow bucket comesout easily in a Wide bucket. In a wide bucket the relationship of theside friction to the cubic contents is less, and therefore even ifpacked to the same extent will dump more easily.

Another advantage is that it is not necessary to have cleaningmechanisms such as are needed when a slope sheet is employed. However,simple and inexpensive forms of cleaners maybe employed in connectionwith the rollers if desired. 1

Yet a further object of this invention is to provide a roller conveyoradapted for use with existing excavating Wheels which embodies a numberof the advantages of the present invention and yet which may be appliedto present day excavating wheels in place of the usual slope sheetWithout modification of the wheel structure itself.

One embodiment provided in accordance with the present inventioncomprises a digging wheel having a plurality of buckets at its peripheryand having an open side and a closel side, with a powered rollerconveyor means being provided comprising a series of several cylindricalrollers which extend into the interior of said wheel from said open sideto a point where the innermost roller closely adjoins the closed side ofthe wheel. .The rollers substantially span the distance between theclosed side of the wheel and a belt type conveyor or the like, thelatter being normally located adjacent to but spaced laterally from theopen side, the result being that the rollers receive the earth from. thebuckets and convey the earth to the belt type conveyor. Since therollers are disposed a short distance above the wheel axle, their axiallength may be substantial.

As a variation of the foregoing invention, I provide a roller to said.series of rollers at a point above the innermost roller, and closelyadjacent the inner surface of the closed side of the wheeL- Theadditional roller is normally somewhat smaller than the innermostroller, and occupies the V-shaped crevice or space existing between theinner surface of the closed side and the adjacent periphery of theinnermost roller. The additional roller prevents any tendency toward abuild up of earth in this crevice and adds to the overall efliciency ofthe invention.

In addition to the foregoing, it is an object of the present inventionto provide an excavating wheel which is wider than has been feasible inthe past, which is economical of manufacture, and which is highlyconvenient and efiicient in use.

Other objects. and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the following description of preferred embodiments of theroller conveyor of the present invention and the usethereof.

Now in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the excavatingwheel of the present invention, I shall, de-

scribe, in connection with the accompanying drawings, preferredembodiments of the excavating wheel and roller conveyors therefor.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view, in elevation, of an excavatingapparatus of the bucket wheel type and supporting means therefor;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, on an enlarged scale and with portionsbroken away, of one form of the bucket wheel and associated apparatus,taken from the side of the apparatus opposite that shown in Figure l andsubstantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 3;

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of thcbucket wheel andassociated apparatus, taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the rollers and closed side of theexcavating Wheel taken substantially on line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is similar to Figure 4 but shows a modification of theinvention shown in Figures 1-4;

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of Figure 5, butalong a line through the main body pertions of the rollers; and

Figure 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view like that of Figure 3, butmodified to show the series of rollers downwardly and outwardly inclinedfrom the interior of the bucket wheel.

FIGURES l-4 Referring now to the drawings, wherein like referencenumerals indicate like elements throughout the several views, referencenumeral 10 in Figure 1 indicates a digging ladder which is pivotallymounted, as at 12, on a fixed support, gantry, or the like, indicated at14. A digging wheel 16 is rotatably mounted at the free end of thedigging ladder 10 and theladder 10 and wheel 16 are supported by awish-bone or V-shaped element 18 which is under the control of a hoistline 29 rceved over a saddle block 22 provided at the end of a beam 24.The beam 24 is pivotally mounted as at 26 on the fixed support 14. Beam24 and digging ladder 10 are movable about their pivoted connectionswith the fixed support 14 by conventional means (not shown). The diggingladder 10 also supports a conveyor belt 28, which extends longitudinallyof the ladder 10 from the digging wheel 16 to the fixed support 14. Theconveyor 28 may lead directly to a point of disposal or may lead toother conveyors or the like that ultimately lead to a point of disposal.

Figures 2, 3 and 4 illustrate more particularly a preferred embodimentof my improved excavating wheel and manner in which it is associatedwith the digging ladder 10. The digging wheel 16 comprises a cylindricalshell 30 having secured to the periphery thereof a plurality of toothedbuckets 32. A vertical end plate, or side wall, 34 is secured in anysuitable manner to the cylindrical shell 30 and is secured to a hub 36which is rotatably supported, by means of bearings 37, on an axle orshaft 38. The axle or shaft 38 is elongated and is supported adjacentits outer ends by the wish-bone or V-shaped structure 18 through clamps40, secured to structure 18, which engage the shaft 38. The diggingladder 10 comprises a trussed section including a plurality ofhorizontal I beams 42, 44 and 46 and. it supports the digging wheel 16by means of a plurality of bearings 48, 50 and 52, which engage theshaft or axle 38 and are secured, respectively, to the beams 42, 44 and46. The digging wheel 16 is preferably provided with a rcin forcingplate 54 secured to the vertical end plate 34, and the plate 54 may beprovided at its periphery with gear teeth (not shown) for engagementwith a suitable driving means whereby the diggingwheel may be driven.

The driving means may be supported on the digging ladder adjacent thedigging wheel, or the digging wheel may be driven in any suitablemanner.

The digging wheel 16 shown in Figures 14 comprises the separable partsor elements 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 54, which may be suitably securedtogether, as by welding, to provide a sturdy but economicallymanufactured digging wheel that is closed at one side and open at itsother side. The digging wheel illustrated is adapted to cut upwardly,and as the individual buckets move upwardly from the position in whichthey perform the excavating function, the earth gravitates toward thein-.

terior of the wheel. It is therefore necessary to provide some conveyingmeans to move the earth falling from the buckets to the conveyor belt 28so that the earth may be removed to a distant disposal point. It hasbeen proposed in the past to provide a slope sheet, fixed to the ladderin a suitable manner, which is disposed in the interior of the wheel ata relatively large angle with respect to the horizontal plane of thewheel. The earth gravitating from the buckets would then contact theslope sheet and slide or roll down said sheet to the conveyor belt, ifsame is located under the lower edge of the sheet, or slide or roll downto some position on the slope sheet where a mechanism of a suitable typeor a laborer would transfer the earth to the conveyor. It has beenfound, however, that the earth tends to accumulate on the upper surfaceof a slope sheet, necessitating continual cleaning and maintenancethereof to keep the wheel operating at a feasible efliciency.

I propose to eliminate the slope sheet, and provide a series of poweredcylindrical rollers to receive the falling earth and'convey same to thebelt conveyor 28. As shown in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 2, 3and 4, three cylindrical rollers 56, 58 and 60, which preferably arehollow, are disposed in side-by-side relationship, and extend throughthe open side of the wheel into the interior thereof. The innermostroller 56 is preferably spaced only a slight distance from the closedside wall comprising the vertical end plate 34, and the outermost rolleris preferably disposed with a portion thereof above the adjacent edge ofconveyor belt 28, as shown in Figure 3. As shown, the series of rollersis preferably disposed in a horizontal plane. However, the rollers maybe inclined at a slight angle from inside the wheel down toward thebelt, as shown in Fig. 7.

To prevent earth from falling between them, the rollers are positionedclosely together. -If they are inclined, they may be positioned so thatthey overlap slightly with respect to the horizontal axis of the wheel16, as shown in Fig. 7. Of .course, the amount of material which mayfall between the rollers is slight and it drops into the buckets on thelower run of the wheel and is carried up again.

The rollers may be supported on the ladder in any suitable manner. Ihave illustrated a supporting means (see Figure 4) wherein supportingbeams 61 and 62 (located at each end of the rollers) are suitably fixedto beam 44- and to bar 64, respectively, which bar fixedly carriessuitable bearings 66, 68 and 70 in which the rollers 56, 58 and 69 arejournalled at their ends. The rollers are adapted to be rotated in thedirection indicated by the arrows in Figure 3 by any suitable means,such as is illustrated, wherein a drive shaft 72 (see Figure 2) issuitably supported in bearing 74 and engages the shaft '76 of roller 60by means of a clutch 78. The rollers 56 and 58 may be driven or rotatedindependently, or may be rotated by drive shaft 72 by means of a chainand sprocket arrangement indicated generally at wherein endless chain 79cooperates with sprockets 81, 83 and 85 to rotate the rollers 56 and 58at the same speed as roller 60 is rotated. Other combinations ofrotating speed and/or operating mechanisms may be employed to suitparticular operating conditions. Manifestly, the drive shaft 72 may bedriven from a suitable source mounted on the digging ladder, or fromother suitable driving means. I

If desired, a scraper or stop sheet 86 is provided to preventaccumulation of earth materials on the outermost roller. It has beenfound that since the rollers are spaced quite close to each other, earthcannot accumulate on any of them to any great degree. However, since anyearth accumulating on roller 60 would ordinarily not be removed byroller 58 until the accumulation was returned to the interior of thewheel (by rotation of roller 60) and would therefore ordinarily dropdown below the rollers, it is desirable to provide the scraper 86 sothat such accumulations will drop on the conveyor belt 28 when removed,decreasing the amount of maintenance required. The scraper or stop sheet86 shown in Figures 2 and 3 is secured to a bracket and extends at aninclination between the upper run of the conveyor belt 28 and theperiphery of the outermost roller 60. The scraper or stop sheet 86 ispreferably positioned so as to be spaced slightly from the periphery ofthe roller 60 to scrape any accumulated material therefrom and transfersame onto the belt 28.

To prevent excavated earth from falling from the buckets as theindividual buckets move upwardly from the position in which they performan excavating operation, a plug 90 (see Figure 2), preferably formed ofsheet metal, is suitably secured to the digging ladder 10 and extendsinto the interior of the digging wheel 16 through the open side thereof.The plug 90 is provided with an arcuate wall portion 92 adapted to fitclosely adjacent the bottoms of the buckets to prevent displacement ofearth materials from the buckets as the individual buckets are movedfrom a position slightly beyond bottom center to a position slightlyabove the horizontal axis of the digging ladder 10. The plug 90 isprovided at its upper edge with an inclined sheet or plate 91, forguiding material from the buckets 32 onto the series of rollers. Theplate extends across the rollers and holes or curvilinear notches areprovided therein for the passage of each roller. Forwardly of wheelshaft 38 and parallel therewith, a shaft 94 carrying a pulley or roller96 is rotatably supported in suitable bearings (not shown) secured tothe beams 44 and 46. The pulley 96 comprises the end pulley for theconveyor belt 28 and is so disposed that the upper or earth carrying runof the belt 28 passes above the shaft 38 and adjacent the lower marginof the outermost roller 60. If desired, a suitable shield similar toplate 91 may be fixed to ladder 10 to protect the bearings 66, 68 and 70and the chain and sprocket arrangement, indicated at 80, from earthaccumulations.

Operation In operation, the digging wheel 16 is rotated by a suitablepower drive means in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 1,whereby an upward out against the surface or a bank of earth or the liketo be removed is effected. The toothed buckets 32 of the digging wheel16 scoop up a quantity of the material of the bank, as determined by thesize of the buckets, and carry the material upwardly. The earth isretained in the buckets during upward travel by the plug 90, but as soonas the individual buckets clear the plug 90, the earth materialgravitates downwardly onto the inclined plate 91 of the plug 90 and ontothe series of rollers, whereupon it is conveyed by the rollers onto thetop run of the conveyor belt 28. Should any earth material tend toaccumulate on the surfaces of the rollers, it would normally be removedby the close proximity of the adjacent roller or rollers. The scraper orstop sheet 86 effectively cleans such material off the surface of roller68 before the material can be carried back to the interior of the wheeland allows the material to drop to the top run of the conveyor beltlocated just below it (see Figure 3). The conveyor belt 28 is driven inany customary manner and carries the material, which has now beentransferred to the upper run thereof, rearwardly toward the pivotalsupport of the digging ladder 10 for disposal thereof.

FIGURES 5-6 In Figures 5 and 6, I illustrate a modification of theexcavating wheel described in connection with Figures 1-4, wherein asmall fourth roller 100 is utilized to fill in the substantiallyV-shaped crevice bounded by the in nermost roller 56 and plate 34.Roller 100 may be secured to the bar 64 in any suitable manner, such asby the angle member 102 provided with bearing device 104, in which theroller 100 is journalled. Rotary motion, in the direction of the arrowshown in Figure 6, may be imparted to roller 100 by any suitable means,such as a sprocket fixed to the roller shaft and a chain cooperat ingwith a suitable sprocket on the shaft of roller 56. Thus,,when thelarger rollers are set in motion by means of the hereinbefore describedstructure, the small roller 100 will turn in the same direction, andwill tend to feed earth material, which might ordinarily collect in theV-shaped crevice between plate 34 and the upper periphery of roller 56,toward the larger rollers, therefore adding to the efficiency of theroller conveyor apparatus. The rollers 56, 58m 60 may be disposed withtheir, axles in a horizontal plane or in a plane inclined downwardlytoward the horizontal.

The aforedescribed embodiments not only provide a more etiicient mannerof feeding the excavated earth to the belt conveyor 28, but alsoincrease the capacity of wheel type excavators as well. Since the ratherlong slope sheet, which formerly projected upwardly quite far into theupper interior of the wheel (and therefore limited the space into whichexcavated material might be discharged and also limited the possibledepth of the buckets 34) is eliminated, the bucket depth and thereforethe capacity of each bucket may be increased substantially. Moreover,the width of excavating wheel may be increased materially, and would notbe limited by the means for removing excavated earth from the wheelsince the roller conveyor hereinbefore described may be made as long asis necessary to convey earth from the interior of the wheel to meanssuch as belt conveyor 28. Also, the buckets can be emptied sooner sincethe series of rollers does not rise as high as the slope sheet of priorpractices. All of these factors, considered together with the increasedefiiciency of the roller conveyor apparatus, greatly increase theexcavating capacity of the excavating wheel.

The foregoing description and the drawings are given merely to explainand illustrate my invention, and the invention is not to be limitedthereto, except insofar as the appended claims are so limited, sincethose skilled in the art who have my disclosure before them will be ableto make modifications and variations therein without departing from thescope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In anexcavating apparatus, the combination comprising a digging wheelhaving an axle and having a plurality of excavating buckets at itsperiphery which buckets are adapted to discharge downwardly from theirupper positions into the interior of the digging wheel, a conveyorpositioned outside of said wheel, a series of rollers extending into theinterior of the wheel for receiving downwardly discharging excavatedmaterial from the buckets and for conveying it outwardly of the wheel tosaid conveyor, said rollers being disposed a short distance above theaxle of the wheel and extending across the interior of the wheel toreceive discharged material from each bucket through a wide arc of itsrotational path.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein the rollers are inclineddownwardly in the direction of the exterior of said wheel and are spacedrelatively close together and in slightly overlapping relationship.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein the rollers are disposed in agenerally horizontal plane and said wheel has a substantially verticalinner wall and the innermost roller of the series is disposed closelyadjacent said wall in parallel relationship.

4. The excavating apparatus set forth in claim 3 wherein another andsmaller roller is disposed adjacent said wall and above the generallyV-shaped space existing between said Wall and the innermost roller ofsaid series of rollers.

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